Although wintertime in Minnesota brings with it the opportunity for some fun seasonal activities, the cold and harsh winters certainly aren’t for everyone. If you find that your mental health seemingly takes a hit during the wintertime, you’re not alone. Countless individuals suffer from seasonal affective disorder or other mental health issues like anxiety or depression as a result of the cold and dark winters. However, you don’t need to suffer through this mental anguish until spring arrives. There are a number of ways you can work to improve your mental health during the winter season (or at any time you’re feeling down, for that matter). In today’s blog, we share some tips for improving your mental health when you’re feeling down.
How To Improve Your Mental Health
It’s vitally important to realize that the issues affecting your mental health are unique to you, so we’d be foolish to suggest that there is a standardized playbook that everyone can follow to improve their mental health. What works for one person may not work for another, so it’s important that you try a few different things and cultivate your own mental health care plan based on what is and isn’t working for you. With that said, here are some ways that can help to improve your mental health.
- Healthy Destress Techniques – One of the biggest burdens on a person’s mental health is usually from the stress they face in their everyday life. We all face different challenges and stressors every day, and it’s impossible to completely eliminate stress from your life. We do challenge you to work to eliminate some forms of controllable stress from your life, but for stressors that will always be there (like family issues, work duties, financial strain, etc), we hope that you’ll find healthy ways to manage this stress. If you fall into bad stress management techniques, you may only end up beckoning more stress. If you eat, drink, gamble or indulge in drugs to destress, the short-term relief you gain may soon be outmatched by more long-term stress. Instead, throw yourself into some activities and hobbies that are healthy for your body and mind. Deep breathing techniques, yoga, meditation and exercise are all wonderful ways to naturally destress your body, but we urge you to find a destress technique that works for you. Whether that is woodworking, reading or simply going for a walk, find a hobby or an activity that helps to center your mind.
- Exercise – Building off that last point, exercise can be incredibly helpful for your mental health. Exercise triggers the release of endorphins in your body, which are your body’s natural “feel good” hormones. They can help to relieve stress and improve your mood, and your body produces more of them when you’re exercising. This isn’t to say that you can simply go for a run to cure your depression, but exercising can help to improve your mood and your stress levels through the production and release of endorphins.
- Develop A Healthy Diet and Sleep Pattern – There is a significant relationship between our mental health and our diet and sleep patterns. If you’re constantly making poor food choices and failing to get enough restful sleep, our bodies can start to feel the physical and mental effects of these choices. Conversely, consuming a range of healthy nutrients and giving your brain and body plenty of time to recover from the stress of the day can help to boost your mood and energy levels. If you need help improving your diet or your sleep schedule, the team at HyperCharge Clinic can help.
- Cellular Rejuvenation – Another technique for improving your mental health that has gained a lot of steam in recent years is cellular rejuvenation therapy. It is one of our specialities at HyperCharge Clinic, and as the name implies, it works by recharging your body on a cellular level. Our energy, mood and mental and physical health are closely tied to the health of our body’s cells. Over time, cellular function can slow down and become less efficient, which has a range of effects on your body. At HyperCharge, we have techniques like Red Light Therapy, Whole Body Photobiomodulation and Class IV Laser Therapy that harnesses the power of light to energize your cells and help them better repair themselves or perform necessary cellular tasks more efficiently. This can help to calm pain sensations, improve your circadian rhythm and give you more energy to exercise or pursue physical pursuits. In many ways, cellular rejuvenation therapy can indirectly serve to significantly improve your mental health.
We know that the winter season can be hard on your mental health, but you don’t need to go through this process alone. Dabble in some of the topics we discussed above, and please consider reaching out to our team if you are interested in learning more about the benefits of cellular rejuvenation. We want to help you improve your mental and physical health, and solutions may be closer than you realize. For more information, give our team a call today at (763) 717-8745.